Internal combustion engines



Nov. 8, 1960 D. HODKlN 2,959,163

INTERNAL comsus'rxon ENGINES Filed April 5. 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 B4 V/D Ham w INVENTOR ATTORNEY Nov. 8, 1960 D. HODKIN 2,959,163

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed April 3. 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Nov. 8, 1960 HODKlN 2,959,163

1 INTERNAL COMBUSTIONENGINES Filed April 3. 1959 1 I 4 Sheets-Sheet! 12 ET I 20 fiAW/ flaw W INVENTOR by n ATTORNEY Nov. 8, 1960 D. HODKIN 2.9

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed April 5, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES David Hodkin, Lidlington, England, assignor to Engineering Research and Application Limited, Dunstable, England Filed Apr. 3, 1959, Ser. No. 803,957

Claims priority, application Great Britain Apr. 8, 1958 2 Claims. (Cl. 123-41.42)

This invention relates to internal combustion engines and its object is to provide a construction which is cheap to manufacture in large quantities and ensures efficient cooling of the cylinders.

According to the invention the cylinder block is made in separate cast parts having meeting faces in a plane containing the axes of the cylinder or each cylinder, said meeting faces being formed with grooves and fitted with liners which cover the grooves to form at least one channel extending around the cylinder and progressively along the cylinder to receive a cooling liquid. Preferably the cooling liquid is oil. If desired the parts may each have for each cylinder half of a helical groove each half turn of which mates with the ends of the corresponding half turns in the other part. The helical groove may be supplied from a pump and may be connected to oil channels formed by other grooves in the meeting faces of the two castings leading to a main channel such channel also supplying oil for lubrication of the crankshaft bearings.

The cast parts with the grooves may be formed by a die casting operation.

The invention will now be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of a cylinder block made in accordance with the invention; and

Figures 2A, 2B and 2C together constitute an elevational view of the right hand half of Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrow 2.

The cylinder block comprises two die castings 10, 11 forming the cylinders and crank case and having meeting faces 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 in a plane 33 that contains the axes of the cylinders and the axes of the crankshaft, gearbox mainshaft and layshaft. The two halves are bolted together by bolts that pass through holes 19.

Near the upper end of each cylinder is a circular groove 20 and these grooves are connected in series by channels 21. An inlet 22 for oil is supplied from a duct formed by a groove 23 in the meeting faces 12. The groove 23 is supplied from a duct 24, pipe 25, duct 26 and main oil channel 27 that is supplied by a pump (not shown).

2,959,163 Patented Nov. 8, 1960 At the lower ends of each of the cylinders is an annular groove 30 and these grooves are connected in series by ducts 31. One of these grooves has a draining duct 32. The upper and lower circular grooves of each cylinder are connected together by a spiral groove 33. The grooves 20, 32, 33 are all covered by liners of which one is shown at 35 in section in Figure 20. Thus oil is fed from 22 to all the grooves 20 and down all the spiral grooves 33 to cool the liners which constitute the engine cylinders.

The grooves 20, 30, 33 are all formed half in casting 10 and half in casting 11 so that the ends of halves of the grooves in one casting connect with the ends of the other halves of the grooves.

The grooves can be formed during the casting operation thereby minimising subsequent machining operations while, at the same time, providing an eflicient cooling of the cylinder liners and facilitating the use of light alloys for the castings.

I claim:

1. A cylinder block for an internal combustion engine which block is made in separate cast parts having recesses constituting a plurality of cylinder recesses and having meeting faces in a plane containing the axes of the cylinders said parts being formed with grooves which can be covered to form at least one channel for cooling liquid, said grooves including a duct around the upper end of the cylinder, a duct around the lower end of the cylinder, and a plurality of turns around the cylinder connecting the two ducts together; and ducting connecting together the lower ducts of adjacent cylinders said ducting being enclosed by the meeting surfaces of said parts.

2. A cylinder block for an internal combustion engine which block is made in separate cast parts having with recesses constituting a plurality of cylinders, meeting faces in a plane containing the axes of the cylinders, said parts being formed with grooves which can be covered to form at least one channel for each cylinder cooling liquid, said grooves including a channel around the upper end of the cylinder, a channel around the lower end of the cylinder, and a plurality of turns around the cylinder connecting the two circular parts together; ducting connecting the upper channels together in a series and ducting connecting the lower channels together in a series, an inlet for oil leading to one end of the series of upper channels and an outlet connected to one end of the series of lower channels, said inlet and ducting being enclosed by said meeting surfaces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,397,434 Ricart Mar. 26, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS 191,774 Great Britain Jan. 19, 1923 

